Reminder
by FleaBee
Summary: After falling ill from pushing himself too hard, someone reminds Seto that work isn't everything. One-Shot


_**Reminder**_

"Mokuba, I don't see your brother's name on the list of contestants advancing to the next round," Yugi commented. They had entered a small duelling tournament, just for fun. The Duel Champ had separated from his friends, agreeing to meet up at a later point.

"I know that he likes to do late finishes, but this is ridiculous even for him, he's going to miss the deadline," Mokuba replied. He pulled out his phone, dialling his brother's number. Mokuba sighed when he did not get an answer. "I wonder if he's still tied up with work, he was up all last night attending to business. He doesn't seem to put aside time for duelling any more, even with a tournament. All he cares about is duelling you."

"He can do that any time he likes, he doesn't need a tournament as an excuse to duel me," Yugi said.

"I know, as does Seto. I think he only does these types of things to make a public appearance, let people know that he still knows how to play the game and hasn't allowed his skills to go rusty," Mokuba pondered.

Yugi followed the teenager to the room Kaiba was currently staying in; it was rather modest, which was unexpected considering the person staying in the unit was the president of a major corporation and the richest person living in Domino City.

"Seto, are you here?" Mokuba called out. Mokuba opened the door to a bedroom, where he found his restless brother.

Yugi and Mokuba both watched as Kaiba tossed and turned, mumbling in his sleep. The sheets were twisted, the pillow and blanket thrown on the floor.

"Seto?" Mokuba rushed to his brother's bed, followed closely by Yugi.

"Kaiba?" Yugi put a cautious hand on his friend's head. He was never sure whether or not he would get a violent reaction from invading Kaiba's personal space. "He has a fever," Yugi announced.

"Seto, you need to wake up." Mokuba was close to tears.

It wasn't like Kaiba to sleep through someone being in his room. He'd always been a light sleeper. Sleeping light had been required to save his life, what with the assassination attempts made on in the past.

Yugi pulled out his own phone, calling Roland, the former bodyguard and current advisor of the Kaiba brothers. Yugi was one of a few people in the world who had Roland's contact details. More people had Kaiba's private number then Roland's work number. Yugi explained over the phone what had happened. Kaiba was sick, but it wasn't life threatening.

YGO

Discreetly, they got Kaiba offsite without any fuss. Yugi and Kaiba were both withdrawn from the tournament, the official reason being Kaiba Corp. business.

The doctor who worked for the Kaibas was furious as she did her examination. Helen Kinto was an older woman who had been working for the Kaiba family since Seto had taken over Kaiba Corp.

"I knew he wasn't well, I told him to rest," Helen ranted. "Said he needed to drink plenty of fluids and rest so he could recover from his flu. As always he didn't listen to me. What does he do? He enters a silly gaming tournament, works himself to exhaustion, then dehydrates and starves himself trying to finish his work."

"I didn't even know he was sick," Mokuba said in a downcast voice.

"He's very good at hiding when he's feeling unwell, from you and even from me - and I'm a trained professional. I swear he is going to be the death of me, giving me a heart attack like that." She connected the young president up to a drip.

"He'll be fine after he's rehydrated and had a goodnight's sleep," Helen told the boys. "I'll keep an eye on him, you two go rest."

YGO

When Seto Kaiba woke up, the first thing he discovered was that he couldn't see clearly. The second thing he found out was he'd been unconscious for a little over a week, and Doctor Helen wasn't going to let him get out of bed any time soon. He was frustrated by the amount of time he'd lost - it reminded him all too much of when he awoke from a coma. He only had the flu, how had it knocked him out for so long? The only positive thing was that Mokuba was beside him when he woke up, so he knew his brother hadn't been kidnapped this time. The poor boy was exhausted and asleep, leaning on his bed. He observed his brother for a few moments, before waking him and telling him that he was fine and that Mokuba needed to go to bed.

Mokuba gave him a hug before leaving.

"I'm glad you're awake, big brother." Mokuba didn't look like he wanted to go.

Seto glanced around at the familiar surroundings of his room. At least he hadn't been put into hospital. Waking up in his room and in his own bed was a lot more relaxing. He couldn't stop thinking about the amount of productivity he'd lost during the past week.

Doctor Helen slinked into the room. Mokuba must have alerted her that he was awake. She didn't just turn up with her medical gear; she had also brought him a light meal from the kitchen.

Helen scolded him, "I told you to relax and rehydrate and what do you do? You end up working yourself to death. I forbid you - and I've forbidden him - from even thinking about work. If I catch you even looking at your phone, I will put you in an induced coma until you're fully recovered."

"I'd fire you if you did that," Seto smirked.

"Good luck finding a doctor that will put up with your attitude and keep you alive," she replied, with her own smirk.

He liked Helen; she was one of the best and knew how to handle him. He sent her one of his rare smiles, usually reserved for Mokuba. She was one of the few people that stuck around year after year.

"When I find someone like that, you're gone," Seto told her, not meaning what he said.

YGO

When Seto woke again, it was mid-morning. His room wasn't empty. Someone had let in Yugi, Wheeler, Tristan, Tea and Bakura. He knew who the culprit was - Mokuba was sitting with the young adults trying to talk in a hushed tone.

"Mokuba, what have I told you about letting strays into the house?" Seto asked.

"Seto, you're awake!" Mokuba hugged him. "You had me worried. Yugi and I found you collapsed in your room at the small house. We were both worried when you didn't get into the next round of duels."

"Great, so the whole world knows I'm sick," Kaiba grumbled.

"No actually, we were able to get you out without anyone else seeing." Mokuba grinned. "The media has no clue at all. According to them, you were called away for Kaiba Corporation business and forced to withdraw."

"So Yugi won without any competition," Kaiba assumed.

"I withdrew as well, I was worried about you," Yugi assured Kaiba. "I'm glad to see you looking a lot better."

Kaiba looked at the smaller boy who was the current Duel Monsters Champion. He'd beat him one day and get his title back. That game would be a fair game, not one where a loved one's life was on the line, not one where he would threaten to commit suicide if he lost because his brother's life was at risk - just a friendly match which would determine the world champion.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Kaiba replied. Honestly, he felt like crap. He had a headache from eye-strain and was still tired, with the added benefit of a fever.

"You're not fine, at least not yet," Yugi replied with a knowing grin.

"If you left, who won? Don't tell me it was your lackey." Kaiba enquired.

"Mai Valentine won the tournament," Yugi replied. Yugi and his friends spent several minutes filling him in on the events that had transpired at the tournament. "Joey was convinced you were holding me hostage so I couldn't win the tournament, so I had to tell them what was going on with you."

Kaiba sighed but didn't say anything. He knew that Yugi's friends wouldn't tell anyone, at least not those who were in the room. They had proven themselves trustworthy time and time again, even Joey.

"Since you didn't get to duel at the tournament, do you want to duel now?" Yugi asked him. "A table top duel since I think your doctor will kill us if we let you out of bed. She's rather scary."

"I don't know where my deck is," Kaiba replied.

"I have it here," Mokuba replied, pulling it out of the top drawer of his side table. His younger brother also pulled out a duel mat.

He took his cards from his brother and gave them to Yugi so they could cut each other's decks, in silence - they didn't even discuss who would go first. Yugi made the first move after they'd finished setting up.

The pair battled in silence, much to the surprise of Joey, Tristan, and Tea. No fancy speeches, no trash talk, no explaining the moves of the card or even naming the cards. Kaiba honestly wasn't up for talking. His throat was still sore and despite not having been awake long and having done no work, he was exhausted and looking forward to going to sleep. Bakura and Mokuba both watched the moves they made in interest, respecting the silence. Joey got bored of watching rather quickly since most of the fun being a spectator was watching people trash talk each other. Tristan and Tea soon joined him in a three-way battle in the corner on the floor.

The duel continued in much silence until Kaiba stopped, he had pulled a card he did not recognize and could not see well enough to know what card he had picked up.

Feeling the tension change, Tea, Joey and Tristan moved their concentration from their own game back to Kaiba and Yugi's duel.

"What's wrong Kaiba? Just realised you're going to lose the duel?" Joey taunted.

Kaiba ignored Joey and continued trying to work out what card he currently had in his hand. His squinting and holding the card at different angles and distances hadn't gone unnoticed. One of the nurses had come over and was now fussing over him. Doctor Helen wasn't currently on shift, having been up with him all the previous night, fussing like an old mother hen when it wasn't required.

"Is there something wrong with your eyes? Have they deteriorated while you've been ill?" the nurse asked with much concern.

"My eyes are the same as always," Kaiba replied, putting down the unknown card, face down.

She held up both hands and asked him. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

He glanced over at her hands and couldn't tell, but that was normal, he refused to answer her and sat there pouting but trying to hide the fact he was pouting. He just wanted to finish his duel against Yugi and go back to sleep.

Mokuba hopped onto his bed and looked right into his eyes. "You're so stubborn, Seto."

The younger boy turned back to the nurse. Seto crossed his arms, turning away from the nurse and his brother. He wished it was his regular doctor on duty instead of this young nurse who wasn't familiar with his medical history. Helen would've scolded him in front of everyone, so maybe it was best she wasn't around.

"My brother's eyes are fine," Mokuba explained to the nurse. He got off the bed and ran to the bathroom adjoining the bedroom.

Mokuba returned a moment later and handed over a set of glasses. "Here, put them on now!" His younger brother demanded.

He pouted for a few moments, but in the end, he put the glasses on, being sick of not being able to see. The eye-strain was starting to get to him.

"No contacts till you're better - and no company work either." Mokuba continued lecturing him, having no idea that Helen gave him that lecture during the night.

"I had no idea," the nurse stuttered out. In a fluster the young woman left his room.

Joey and Tristan were both laughing at him. He hated wearing glasses and had always preferred contacts. He had been hoping his brother would bring his contacts instead of the glasses, but that was certainly not the case. No contacts he could deal with, company work, on the other hand, needed to get done if he wanted to still run a company once he was fully well again.

"Since when have you had glasses?" Tristan asked.

"Since I was nine; do you have a problem with that?" Kaiba asked.

"Well no, we just didn't know. It's odd to see you wearing them." Tristan shrugged.

"If you're all over the fascination of my wonderful face, Yugi and I were in the middle of a duel."

He picked up his card that he hadn't been able to identify without his glasses. He glanced at the card for five minutes before it finally registered what card he was holding in his hand.

"That's impossible," he finally announced. With a shaky hand, he turned the card around, showing the card to Yugi.

"Isn't that against the rules? You are not meant to show Yugi your card. Why are you breaking the rules in your own duel?" Tea questioned.

"No way," Yugi exclaimed. He pulled out his deck, abandoning the duel, searching through his own cards.

"What's going on?" Joey asked. "What did Kaiba draw?"

"I didn't see," Tea replied. Mokuba was pale.

Bakura replied. "It was a dragon I've never seen before."

Yugi finally found what he was looking for and showed Kaiba the two blank cards.

"Did Kaiba just win the duel?" Bakura asked. "Isn't that a forfeit or disqualification, Yugi looking at his cards like that?"

"As much as I hate to say this, Yugi is still Duel Monsters champion. It was a mutual agreement between the two of us to end the Duel." Kaiba informed everyone.

"Can you read each other's minds or something? I didn't see either of you agree to forgo the match." Tristan asked the pair.

"It's more about being able to read each other's body language than each other's mind," Yugi replied. "Joey, do you have your card?"

"Let me look," Joey said and went through his deck and saw that he did, in fact, have Hermos in his deck. He showed the card to Yugi and Kaiba. "That's strange, I wonder why they came back."

Yugi shrugged, a grave look on his face.

"Whatever, it's all mumbo jumbo. Now get out of my room." Kaiba demanded.

"Get well, Kaiba," Yugi replied, trying to be cheery but clearly worried.

Once everyone but Mokuba had left, he glanced at the cards again. "I understand, I won't do it again." He whispered to the card.

"Won't do what again?" Mokuba asked.

"In the future I will take better care of myself," Seto explained to his brother. "When I'm sick, I will allow myself to recover, I won't work myself almost to death. I promise you Mokuba, and when I make a promise to you, I keep it. There is no upcoming danger; the cards ... Critias and the other Legendary Dragons were just serving us a reminder. We don't know when danger is around the corner, we always need to be prepared. I cannot be prepared if I don't allow myself to heal when I'm sick."

"Get more sleep Seto, you're not better yet." Mokuba insisted.

Seto nodded and laid back down, dropping to sleep quickly. Mokuba removed the forgotten glasses from his brother's face and placed them on the bedside table, the forgotten deck with Critias between two of his brother's blue eyes card at the top of the deck and the final blue eyes card at the bottom of the deck. Seto always had his cards in a set order when he wasn't duelling.


End file.
